Orion
What is Orion?
Constellations· Winter evenings (N) · three belt stars. King of the winter sky — the three belt stars, red Betelgeuse and blue Rigel make it the first constellation most people ever learn.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where Orion is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=con:Orion — location and time set automatically, no login.
Stars of the figure
| Star | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| Rigel | 0.1 |
| Betelgeuse | 0.5 |
| Bellatrix | 1.6 |
| Alnilam | 1.7 |
| Alnitak | 1.8 |
| Saiph | 2.1 |
| Mintaka | 2.2 |
| Hatysa | 2.8 |
The 8 brightest of the 11 stars used in the figure (12 lines). Lower magnitude means brighter.
Deep-sky objects near this constellation
Constellation basics
| Season | winter evenings |
|---|---|
| Brightest star | Rigel (0.1) |
| How to find | the three belt stars in a row |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Frequently asked
- When can I see Orion?
- winter evenings.
- How do I find Orion?
- the three belt stars in a row.
- What is the brightest star in Orion?
- Rigel, magnitude 0.1.
- Where is Orion in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
The winter of 2019, when Betelgeuse went dim
From October 2019 to February 2020 Orion's right shoulder visibly faded. Betelgeuse, normally around magnitude 0.5, dropped to 1.6, about the brightness of the belt stars, and the familiar shape of the constellation looked wrong. Talk of an imminent supernova spread, but the star returned to its usual brightness within months.
Hubble and ground-based telescopes traced the cause to a blob of gas the star had thrown off. Material lifted from the surface cooled into dust and shaded the star's southern half, with the shadow pointed at Earth. One star's change in brightness altered the impression of a whole constellation, a rare naked-eye reminder that constellations are not fixed drawings but arrangements of living stars.
The constellation in depth
Orion is the textbook first constellation: on winter evenings find three bright stars in a perfect row — the Belt — with red Betelgeuse and Bellatrix above as shoulders, blue Rigel and Saiph below as legs. Few constellations hold two first-magnitude stars.
Below the Belt hangs the sword with the Orion Nebula, a naked-eye star factory. Extend the Belt down-left to Sirius or up-right to Aldebaran — Orion is the signpost of the whole winter sky.
In myth the hunter died of a scorpion's sting, so Orion sets as Scorpius rises — the two never share the sky. Set the Sky view to a winter evening and find him.
Orion is a one-screen textbook of stellar life: stars being born in the nebula below the belt, Betelgeuse nearing its death, Rigel in its blue prime. Extend the belt down-left to Sirius, up-right to Aldebaran — the master key that unlocks the whole winter sky.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.